January 3, 2021
Upcoming Events and Notices
This week San Diego Country remains in the highest COVID-19 risk category of Purple/Widespread. The State of California guidelines for San Diego County states that all worship services should be conducted outdoor. And given the challenges of weather and logistics, we will continue to hold our Lord's Day worship service online only.
Please join us 10 AM, January 3, 2021, for worship. You can participate in this week's service via YouTube here. You can find the order of worship and songs here.
You can find the sermon from the December 27, 2020 service here.
January 3 (Lord's Day 11:15 AM): Please join us for fellowship after the worship service via Zoom: Meeting ID: 879 4595 5692 — for meeting passcode please text pastor Ken.
Thank you for your continued support of Grace Fallbrook (PCA). Your loving support makes the proclamation of the gospel and the building up of the saints possible. Please continue to mail in your gifts and offerings to our church treasurer, Bruce Summers. In addition, our church website now features online giving. Please visit the church website and click on "Give" which you will find in the upper left corner of our church's website. When you click on "Give Online Now" button on that page, you will be directed to the PCA Foundation where you can give towards Grace Fallbrook (PCA).
Before We Worship
The new year is here. Unfortunately, that means the same thing will happen to me again that happens to me at the beginning of every new year. It is now 2021. But out of habit I will write 2020 on checks. And who knows how many checks it will take for me to finally get with the program? Every January I end up wasting a number of checks because I am out of step with the reality. I have to force myself to remember until the truth becomes a part of me.
Our life in Christ happens much the same way. What God has made us by grace and how we live are not always in sync. For example, what do we do when we are ashamed of sin? Many of us instinctively tell ourselves "I am going to be and do better." We make resolutions. The problem is that we need to keep reminding ourselves the truth so that we would instinctively turn to God when we are burdened with guilt.
In Zechariah 3:1–10 the high priest Joshua is standing in filthy garments before God. Joshua's defiled garments are symbolic of how the entire nation of Israel was defiled in the aftermath of the exile. The reality and evidence of their failure were all around them. They could not sweep them away and hope no one notices. The turmoils and the destruction of the exile could not be denied or ignored. Thus Joshua cannot hide his defilement. And the defiling of the holiest man in all of Israel indicates there is no hope for the ordinary people.
But Joshua is not alone. Satan stands ready to do what he does best. The name Satan means "Accuser," and he is "standing at Joshua's right hand to accuse him." Joshua doesn't have a prayer. He knows his sins. He is absolutely silent. But notice who else is also silent. The Accuser cannot get a word of accusation out. For the Lord impatiently cuts him off!
"The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" What a surprise! We expected the LORD to rebuke Joshua for his defilement. But the LORD does not rebuke Joshua, but his would be accuser, Satan! And what follows is an unforgettable scene: "And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments."" As we continue to read on we begin to realize how God will do this. His servant, "the Branch," will "remove the iniquity of this land in a single day." This was a promise of what Jesus would do. Sinners will be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and the Accuser will be silenced. Paul will declare in Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
When we are caught in sin's snare and shame, we need to remind the truth until it becomes our second nature. Jesus has silenced the Accuser, and we are dressed in his righteousness! Jesus did it all.